Dynamic Ticketing? You’ve Got to Roll with It

Thanks to Oasis, we are all about to become far more interested in dynamic pricing – especially if the British government goes ahead with its inquiry into how the band’s tickets were sold last weekend.  

The process of dynamic ticketing is common in the travel industry; airlines, hotels and taxi services like Uber and Bolt use it. However, it is fairly new in the world of entertainment and for several years has been on the fringes of sport.  

Dynamic pricing is all about supply and demand, based on things like queue length, pricing on secondary market platforms and constant market testing – an algorithmic version of ‘you were happy to pay £150 so let’s see if the next person will go for £175’. It feeds on excitement and as a marketing exercise, the supersonic hype for Oasis’ reunion tour was exemplary: the huge queue it created potentially helped drive prices up. 

One school of thought with dynamic pricing is that if you price at a point which people will pay on a primary seller, it reduces the secondary and black markets. The band were very clear that tickets sold outside formal channels would be cancelled (which is nice PR but appears to be largely unenforceable). 

So, here’s the thing: Oasis tickets were subject to dynamic pricing… but no one told the punters.  

There is a lot of talk in sport about learning from other industries but there is also the sentiment that true fans should not be forced out by ‘the prawn sandwich’* brigade. Discussing this topic is like dancing on the head of a pin – sports needs money; businesses have the right to maximize their income; smart businesses are good to their customers; no one wants fans to think they aren’t important, being exploited or being marginalized. In other words, it’s a tricky one.  

It will be interesting to see if an inquiry goes ahead and what – if any – fallout there will be but there is a big lesson to be learned. If you are going to embrace dynamic pricing, be open about it.  

What is certain is that Oasis has opened the gate for dynamic pricing to become the norm. Will it be the right choice for some sports promoters? Definitely maybe. But if there was ever a moment for sport to really understand it then the time, some might say, is now.  

*a term in British sport meaning corporate hospitality guests who turn up without really appreciating the sport they are attending